This is Hard to Write...

This is hard to write and hard to talk about, but that is part of what this blog is about - to journal our thoughts, our victories, and sadly, our struggles in managing a small, diversified homestead farm. Tricia and I have long said that this adventure is a learning process, one that has its fair shares of exuberance and victories where you feel like you are on top of the world AND one fraught with disappointments and difficulties where you feel like you're in a valley.  This is one of those times.

On April 6, 2013, we embarked upon a new adventure that we chronicled in this post: Nellie in which we rejoiced in a new addition to our family when we purchased a lovable Nubian Dairy goat named Nellie.  Since that time Nellie has become like a member of our family, yielding gallons and gallons of goat milk that we use primarily to make kefir.  She gave us many smiles and laughs along the way. She also gave us Annie, her little girl:

Annie

Annie's all grown now and it was time to bring Nellie and Annie to be bred by a Nubian billy goat and we recently discussed that trip in This Blog Post.

Nellie (foreground) and Annie (background) ready to go

We received a call earlier this week sadly informing us that Nellie had died.  There. I said it.  We don't know how or why and we certainly don't blame the wonderful people looking after her.  There were no marks from predators and no signs of sickness.  It just happened.  It's one of those things that you turn over and over in your mind wondering what we could have done differently, wondering how this could have been averted or what type of learning experience we can take away from this tragedy. Sometimes there are no answers.

We know that we provided her with a good life.  She was a happy goat and it saddens us that when we go to pick up Annie, Nellie won't be returning to Our Maker's Acres Family Farm.  As I write this I can almost hear her bleating "behhhh" and the jingling of the red bell that we had hanging around her neck as she would run to the barn for her daily milking.

There is a phrase in French, C'est la vie, that means "That's life."  It's true.  Bad things just happen sometimes that we can't change.  Although hard to accept, it's just the way things are and you keep pressing on.  Life is a cycle that sadly includes death.  We fully understand that she's an animal. She's not human and as special as she was to our family, her life is not as valuable as human life.  Our job is to be good stewards of the animals and land that the Good Lord has given us and we believe we've done that, but that is no consolation for losing her and doesn't assuage the sense of loss we have. This isn't the first animal we've lost and it won't be the last.

RIP Nellie

The Millenials have a term they use when something is really good.  They call it GOAT.  That acronym stands for Greatest Of All Time.  RIP Nellie.  You were the GOAT and we will miss you!